Packaging revelations from Frito-Lay, Campbell Soup and more

Insights from major brand owners—and innovations from vendors such as buttressed bottles, airless molding and more—were all part of The Packaging Conference lineup.

Three days of The Packaging Conference the first week of February in balmy Florida yielded a wealth of packaging and plastics information from and for brands, their vendors and their vendors’ vendors across packaging markets for food, beverages and plastics including bioplastics.

We’ve assembled a selection of insightful sound bites and interesting news and developments from the event, starting with Robert Weick, VP Packaging R&D, Campbell Soup, through his prepared remarks and from the post-presentation Q&A.

“You will find out where your weakest points are in omnichannel like leaky seals and closures, what I call Holy Cows,” said Weick. “The challenge is to design for the unknown, such as discovering a closure leaks when the packaging isn’t kept upright when shipped via ecommerce.”

He also made these observations:

We’ve been reshaping our portfolio through acquisitions.

Recent changes in our omnichannel packaging portfolio includes delivered meals for new marketing strategies and the need for new formats, including meeting customers’ need for 4-packs and 6-packs.

In December 2017, the company launched a 4-pack count of Well Yes! Cans for ecommerce.

We are willing to accept lower margins in ecommerce, we lose a little to gain more.

We have a complete ecommerce team that acquires [supply chain] data and then uses that data to drive business.

By tapping retailer data, Campbell’s was able to launch a PET bottle of Prego sauce in one-third of the usual time.

The need for speed of response is required not just in packaging operations, but in production, too; we need to create morphing systems for change.

We embarked on “non intent” path for BPA with Well Yes! canned soups, which are stackable and have been our most successful recent launch.

Adaptability is crucial in working backwards through the supply chain while enabling cube and pallet efficiencies and modularity.